Japan continued to buck the selloff elsewhere in Asia. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> slid 0.4% and was heading for a monthly loss of roughly 5%, snapping a two-month winning streak.
With Wednesday’s close China’s stock markets have fallen six straight months despite recent efforts by Beijing to shore up the economy and confidence.
Chinese shares <.CSI300> lost 0.9% after a survey showed manufacturing activity shrinking in January for a fourth month.
State-backed investors, the so-called “national team” appear to be plunging into blue-chip funds. More than $17 billion flowed to four Chinese-domiciled exchange traded funds tracking the CSI 300 index in the month to Jan. 26, S&P Global Market Intelligence found.
Japan’s Nikkei <.N225> ended the month with a more than 8% gain, its best January performance since 1998 amid increasing confidence that its long-moribund economy has turned the corner.
Minutes from the last Bank of Japan meeting, released Wednesday, bore out the market view that the central bank will soon take a hawkish turn from keeping rates negative and lifted JGB yields and underpinned the yen.
The dollar slipped against the yuan <CNH=D3> and fell vs the yen <JPY=> in U.S. trade.
